Lycanthropes
Lycanthropes, werewolves, or wolfmen are sufferers of lycanthropy (rarely called werewolfism), a virus which was magickally mutated, and now contagiously spreads the ability to shapeshift into a wolf. The virus primarily spreads through bites, but is also sexually transmittable, and exists in its sufferers bodily fluids. The virus is invisible to the body's immune system, and attaches itself to just a few cells upon initial infection. These cells utilize a mechanism not dissimilar to cancer, and rapidly reproduce, resulting in bodily pain, vomiting, mood swings, migraines, and incredible hunger. Upon nightfall, and a near-total infection of the body, the sufferer will undergo an involuntary transformation into a wolfman. Description: Dr. Iudaeorum of the Stewards of Koneland describes the transformation as follows: "It... it always starts with the nails. The fleshy, pink nails of a man will erupt out with a splatter of blood and viscera. They give way to the long black claws of a beast. You feel it all, the horrible bone sawing of wolf-claw on man-skin coming from all ten fingers and all ten toes. Next, the bones begin to rearrange themselves. Ankles twist, femurs stretch, all the while you're burning up. Your ribcage expands violently. Arms become heavier and heavier. Your jaw juts out, and your nose twists and breaks itself with a sickening crunch. Your skin becomes tighter and tighter. Blood pours from your eyes, and the whole world goes red. Your body hair begins poking holes all over your taut skin, and suddenly it all sloughs right off, completely painless. Now all that's left is the odds and ends. Your fingers and toes rearrange themselves a bit, gliding across your body, but at this point you have forgotten the meaning of pain. You are something more primal. Your nose forms a snout, your ears stand alert, and you blink as the world goes from blood red to a muted grey." After the transformation, a pile of nails, hair, and skin will be left behind, which does not immediately disappear. These materials are for the most part unchanged, but, somehow, do turn to ash upon contact with sunlight or water. Sunlight will also trigger an involuntary transformation back into the human form. From this point on, transformations and degree of transformation are voluntary with the exception of prolonged exposure to full moonlight, which will trigger a full-on transformation into not a wolfman, but a lycan. For weak-willed men, it is difficult to return from this form, and only a near-fatal shot from a silver bullet can possibly save them. More often than not, however, this results in their death. Sunlight can sometimes trigger accidental transformations into the human form, especially if the wolfman is closer to man in terms of their transformation. History: Birth of the Child With Many Names: See Article: Child With Many Names The Child With Many Names was first born during the Age of Terror to a family of Illicatishmen in the Marus Valley, the future location of Lohth. Lothth is a sort of drainage location for magickal, cosmic, and extradimensional energies. They gather up there, and flow through an "artery," which would later become known as Koneland. When the Child was born, this magickal energy exploded out, and filled Koneland with magickal phenomena. In particular, a sexually transmitted disease not dissimilar to real-life HIV was mutated by the radioactive magickal energy, and became lycanthropy. Magicks are influenced by consciousnesses, and the fears of humankind shaped the disease. They feared iron weaponry, wild animals, especially nocturnal ones, magicks, sickness, and cannibals - an ever-present fear and taboo to peoples living in wilderness. A small, but self-sustaining population of wolfmen began prowling the countryside after being overcome with a ravenous craving for human flesh that could not be sated. Once they gave in, their powers awoke, and the disease was unleashed. The Massacre at Marus Valley was blamed on a figure which became known as Sinfear, the Hundred-Handed Wolf God. Worshippers of Sinfear differed from their future counterparts in the Stewards in that they embraced their wild nature by partaking in "theft" of livestock, bestiality, rape, murder, and cannibalism of wolves, humans, and even other wolfmen. Alak the Avatar was one of the first wolfmen to be transformed by a bite rather than infection of the virus prior to the Child's birth. Alak became known as Sinfear's Chosen, and as his avatar. He made 1,000 wolfmen through 999 bites, and one son by a wytch wife, Baken the Hero. The Stewards of Koneland: See Article: Stewards of Koneland Baken the Hero: About sixty years after the initial cases of lycanthropy, Baken the Hero was born in a small cottage near the future location of the Ymetran Wall. Baken was at first extremely bloodthirsty, but after nearly consuming his own son, he resolved to overcome his nature, and use his abilities for good. He preyed on criminals, especially rapists, thieves, bad hosts, and other wolfmen. Soon enough, all other wolfmen either came to hate him, or respect him. Thirteen Blood Disciples: Baken gathered under him thirteen blood disciples (all of whom were wolfmen), and found for them thirteen wytch wives. He recognized that their powers were dangerous, and should be limited or removed at all costs. He swore his disciples to secrecy, and cursed their bloodlines to only proliferate through wytches, and for their disease to be carried only by males. Creation of the Feargrove/Day of Night: Baken gathered all twenty-seven of them at his birthplace where they purged themselves using a powerful reverse soulbonding spell, expelling their vices all at once. This magickal event shot out throughout reality, barely missing Planet Geirkomo, whose inhabitants the members of the Rat Race recorded it as the Day of the Nightstorm. Unfortunately, it did strike the Exterminator class warship of the long-dead Emperor of Rat known as the R.I.S. Nevaks, meaning "Die Heretics!" The Nevaks carried on it a virulent form of Cancerattus, the nature of which was corrupted by the forbidden magicks of the soulbonding spell, and led to the birth of weredevilism, and went soaring down into the Sunder Sea, one of the few remaining bodies of water on the planet. The magickal energy struck what would later become Orewash on that Earth, and transported one of the thirteen blood disciples, Kisif the the Skinner there, and imbued him with the sins and evils of all twenty-six of his comrades. Kisif would go on a reign of terror for thirteen years, rampaging throughout what would later become the kingdom of Sakhalia (that Earth's analogue to Russia in the real world). The rural tribe of Enida, led by a council of shamen foresaw his arrival and called on a heroine of the woods, Tyrkina (the mother of Tyrkhan the First, finder of Sinar), to slay him. They did battle, with Trykina leading an army of bestiolarum to fight him, and eventually winning by transforming the Skinner into solid redstone. Kisif became a boogeyman to the future Sakhalians, and a sort of living god to the future Orewashers. Tyrkina was forgotten; her curse by Kisif through the redstone. Kisif's redstone is different, and can be remembered and understood. In fact the Enidan's descendants, known as Yyudans, worship the redstone in secret, and consider it to be the last magickal artifact from before the age of myth that Queen Lynda Alanor ended. Kisif draws power from worship, and were the redstone ever to become public knowledge, his escape would be an almost certainty. The magickal energy also struck Planet Oyg, and created a large anomalous region, known as the Kingdom of Night, with the Feargrove at its heart, which bathed the planet in magickal energy, and allowed for it to advance farther than any other planet in the universe millenia before even the Mur. This of course was also their doom, as this magickal energy led Otak the Younger to create the star Uri, which eventually led to runaway desertification of the planet, and the near-ruination of their civilizations. On this Earth, the remaining disciples watched as Baken stood against the darkness, and prevented it from destroying the world. They buried the darkness under an artificial hill, and then built a small peasant town above it, Covenblight. Baken guards against the darkness even now, stony yet still alive. The Feargrove is undiscovered on that Earth, being in too remote, and cold a region of Orewash. It is of course, the original source of lycanthropy and vampyrism on that Earth. The Stewards of Koneland consider the Feargrove a site of worship, and come here to dance, and worship strange woods gods (the Oygans). The Eiharish Incident: In the summer of Eiharish Year 89 (CC: 5,007 - the Eiharishmen used a different dating system from the rest of Western Parthalenn during their brief independence), Antonyn the Arrogant of the Smokegores travelled to the countryside of the Eiharish Kingdom between Eiharu and Tygre. He and his followers began a six-week-long reign of terror in which they raped, murdered, and cannibalized openly. They transformed in the streets, and in particular enslaved the populace of the small village of Grandhomme. To end their evil, the Stewards of Koneland commandeered control of Château Carcannibalecasse, and used an item known as the Hammer of Hell or Helsurge to destroy the rogues. An enormous area of land between the castle and Tygre was obliterated, and left nothing but scorched earth. Tens of thousands of innocents died to protect the Stewards' secrets. The Hammer of Hell is most likely an artifact which was once in use by a god-in-the-flames. After a few years, the incident was able to be blamed on Yulas Dɘ Synthe, a well-off spice merchant who had a menagerie of strange animals. Enough time passed for people to swallow the pill that it was a pack of hyenas that escaped his menagerie, and that they were all killed in a freak forest fire. In reality, these hyenas had escaped, and they were the reason that Antonyn chose that general region. He himself personally slew the hyenas, and described them as tasting rotten. Trisalem Wytch Trials: After the Anasic Empire took over the Eiharish Kingdom, and even sent Wandering Reds into Koneland, a fervent fear of wytchcraft spread throughout Western Parthalenn. Thereafter, thousands of wytch trials were held, accusing everyday people of vast crimes against the gods and the natural order of things. The worst of these trials were held at Trisalem, a holy city in the Faith o' Nine, the Faith of Anasia, and the Faith of Iksas. Hundreds of women, girls, and boyfuckers were burned at the steak or hanged. Innocents died standing accused of lycanthropy, and the Stewards stood back fearful of being exposed. Meanwhile their grasp over anomalous phenomena in Koneland was becoming very tenuous. This was perhaps the weakest that they ever were in their long history. Goreyni-Mur War: The Day of Dread: The Day of Dissolution: Huron Space: Category:Magicks Category:History Category:Peoples